Löwenstein-Wertheim

thumb|Arms of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg thumb|Arms of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg Löwenstein-Wertheim was a county of the Holy Roman Empire, part of the Franconian Circle. It was formed from the counties of Löwenstein (based in the town of Löwenstein) and Wertheim (based in the town of Wertheim am Main) and from 1488 until 1806 ruled by the House of Löwenstein-Wertheim who are morganatic descendants (and the most senior line) of the Palatinate branch of the House of Wittelsbach.

==History== thumb|left|Louis I, Count of Löwenstein (1494–1524), morganatic son of [[Frederick I, Elector Palatine]] The County of Löwenstein belonged to a branch of the family of the counts of Calw before 1281, when it was purchased by the German King Rudolph I of Habsburg, who presented it to his natural son Albert. In 1441 Henry, one of Albert's descendants, sold it to Frederick I, Count Palatine of the Rhine, head of the Palatine branch of the House of Wittelsbach, and later it served as a portion for Louis (1494-1524), a son of the elector by a morganatic marriage, who became a count of the Empire in 1494. Louis obtained Löwenstein in Swabia and received from Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor the title of Count of Löwenstein.